Sunshine Coast Mayor Mark Jamieson has defended the approval for a mosque to be developed in Maroochydore.
The mosque was approved by the Sunshine Coast Regional Council in June and will be developed by Muslim organisation Sunshine Coast (MoSC).
Mr Jamieson told 612 ABC Brisbane that the application was approved under council’s new town plan.
“That site along with various other sites along the Sunshine Coast were assessed as being appropriate for places of worship,” he said.
“A mosque is a place of worship. It was quite appropriate that it was dealt with by our officers, otherwise it really did run the risk of becoming a political football.”
The Sunshine Coast’s Islamic community bought the Maroochydore house from the Uniting Church last year.
Two anti-Islamic groups have campaigned against developing the mosque.
Mr Jamieson said the application was assessed by council on whether it met town planning requirements.
“Councils are not responsible for foreign policy, we’re not responsible for border control,” he said.
“We’re responsible for planning and we need to take a genuine and honest approach to that.
“This mosque which is in an existing building, it’s not going to be a new building created at all, [it] will serve the very modest needs of this very small Muslim community on the Sunshine Coast.”
Mr Jamieson said he was not aware of any issues in the past that have seen council direct new churches to industrial estates.
“I think the reality is it’s probably a preference for those churches because of the opportunity to perhaps have some more leniency on noise on weekends,” he said.
Agreement on Caloundra South development due soon
Meanwhile, Mr Jamieson said council was planning for another 150,000 people to move to the Sunshine Coast in the next 20 years.
“It is probably ahead of the growth rate projected for the rest of Australia but that comes down to the popularity of the Sunshine Coast as a location,” he said.
“More importantly it will be seen as a very robust economic and commercial area as well.”
And he said an agreement between the State Government and Stockland developers over Caloundra South was due soon.
“It is a significant development - potentially home for 20,000 residences, a significant commercial and retail centre,” Mr Jamieson said.
“It has been a long, drawn-out process. This has been something we had expected to have resolved some time ago.”
Mr Jamieson said ratepayers would not have to cover the costs of the development.
“We’ve worked very hard with Stockland, the developer, to nail down all those issues,” he said.
“I’m confident that we’ll reach a final position on that shortly.”